Pilot and Powell opens on Magazine Street

Pilot and Powell opened last month, but it's already making waves in the styleosphere. Vogue recently named the luxury women's boutique one of the coolest stores of 2016. If the instant success seems surprising, it shouldn't — because it isn't instant at all. Co-owners Coeli Hilferty Boron and Kathryn Bullock Joyner both had careers in the fashion industry: Boron spent the last seven years as a publicist for Mignon Faget, and Joyner spent a decade as a buyer at Mimi and Saks Fifth Avenue. Their talents combined to create an "innovative ... store that feels cozy and inviting, like your coolest friend's house," Boron says.

A Pennsylvania native, Boron missed the "adventurous" brands carried by Barney's and similar stores. Joyner felt that New Orleans had a retail deficit which, coupled with an influx of transplants, created a business opportunity.

"There's an audience of ready and willing women who are eager to take risks," Boron says. "They want to wear things their friends don't know about and blaze new paths."

The store's brands include Marni, Tabitha Simmons and 3.1 Phillip Lim, as well as rotating lesser-known Australian, Korean, Spanish, Colombian and French lines. "They'll complement those brands to give people that edge they're looking for," Joyner says. "We're creating an atmosphere of clothing and lifestyle products that capture the essence of New Orleans, but are more fashion-forward."